It took a long time to be stocked but once in and ordered it arrived the next day. It is lightweight and easy to install. Its sits a top the front of my broad beam canal boat fixed only by the 4 strong magnets that seem fine despite the curvature of the boat roof.

It could be fixed with screws and staps but needs to be removable for low bridges along the river. The cables could do with being longer but just reach my front battery bank. Not much wind yet despite the heavy rain although I did see it turn once or twice in the odd gust.

Gales are expected tomorrow and I will update the review once I have seen it work. One thing to beware is it takes 25 miles an hour wind for maximum performance so expect low out put at normal wind levels of around 10 miles per hour.

The telescopic nature is a good option for some bridges to save removing from the roof all of the time and it looks very smart and nautical providing a much lower key profile compared to traditional wind turbines not to mention much safer.

Neighbours have been facinated and several intend to purchase one of these. I would be interested in a slightly larger version of the same design. I plan for this to run in conjuction with 43 max maplin solar panels to run my maplin 10w 10.2 inch tv, my water pump and a 12 volt rechargeable 13 watt lamp as we will be off grid by the weekend

The rest of the boat is powered by 230 w max solar panels and of course the engine leisure battery alternator and my maplin 1000w inverter.

Alternative energy will not meet all of our power needs so have generators for big items like the hoover and dryer etc.

Its a shame we still have to pay the standard rate of VAT for these green items so I have to question the governments true commitment to renewable energy. Payback if there is a grid option would be more years than the anticipated life of the product.

Update (01/10/2010)

Well the wind has arrived and I have seen and listened to it spinning although spinning does not mean charging. Charging speed starts at around 30KM hr winds (around 19 miles an hr) with the maximum not reached until 55KM hr (35 miles an hr) which is quite high for a wind turbine. The wind has yet not really reached this level although it is expected to get as high as 45 miles an hour so some charging should take place.

When spinning it has quite a pleasant wirring sound and seems very stable with just the 4 magnets holding it in position.

Once in position you can connect and leave it to trickle charge without any safety concerns.

All in all a well thought out product Update

This is an update. After 6 months power production is now nil and when it gets windy enough to hit 12 volts it rocks and blows over. It finally went for a swim and is no loss at all. It is a great idea, pretty but even if fastened down only good for charging 6 volt batteries. my advice do not buy.

very cheap in construction.not worth the money.

The connections on the leads did not fit over the posts on the turbine as the holes in the terminal connectors were smaller than the thread. The lead length is far to short to reach from the roof of my canal boat to anywhere near the batteries, needs to be over twice the length (4-6m). The turbine has an annoying habit of stalling side on to the wind - and it does not restart spinning. The Canal boat is moored in very windy weather straining the ropes. The turbine sits serenely on the roof not spinning, even opened up fully. Then, as wind increases rocked around a bit, threatening to jump off - the magnets just held it on, but failed to spin. Tree branches nearby were lashing all around.

Very poor! The charging display was faulty after only a fortnight! Does not like to be telescoped is very stiff even after lubricating with a bit of veg oil. A noticable wobble developed after about 5 months and it refused to turn in quite strong winds after about 6 months. obviously not designed to be used outside, which is odd as it's a wind generator. I bought this to use on a boat, so is fixed and it lives outside. Not fit for purpose in my opinion!

Bought this for the MotorHome and is brilliant except the weather is really fickle and hardly had wind since. Its brilliant and keeps pace with my inverter while charging my powered wheelchair